I think he has some passive-aggression going on. Tempting you into doing it, so that he'll have something to hold over you. He KNOWS the trailer/car/boat have made the situation worse, and he wants to share out the 'blame'.

That's kind of what it sounds like to me, but I don't know your husband. Why does *he* need to test drive it if it would be *your* car? I mean, I would test drive WITH Hulky because it would be fun.

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Current interests - Starting Strength (reading it very slowly)

It's on his way home from work and he's driving the car we'd be trading (it's his work car). Plus, he'd be the one discussion financing details with the guy. He knows where I want the payment to be and I've discussed with the salesman what discounts and all that I'd be able to get.

He drove the car I was interested in and one he was interested in. I was interested in a 3.5L V6 and he's interested in the 2.5L 4cyl. He drove them both the same distance and the same speed. He said the 4cyl wasn't lacking that much power in comparison to the 6cyl, so he didn't think I'd miss anything there. And he also compared the gas mileage per the computer system in the car and discovered the 4cyl got 10 more miles per gallon in that short trip compared to the V6.

Then he hopped in the 2014 Fusions. He's pushing for me to get one of those if/when I decide to get a new car. He wants me to talk to the credit union and see what Lynn can do for us and we'll go from there in deciding what to get. Where we usually buy a car and keep it for an extended period of time (I've had my current car for 7 years) and we pay them off before they're due, he'd like for me to get a 2014 and drag the payment out as far as I can so it's low initially and then snowball it when we can - which is what we did with the current car and ended up paying it off 3 years early, but comfortably. In order to do this, I have to bring myself to like the grill on the 2014... He said that with the way I hold onto a car for so long, he's not as comfortable with me getting a 2011 over a 2014 b/c by January it'll already be 3 years old.

He said if I want to, next week he can flex a day (he's got overtime coming both this weekend and next, so he can take 8 hours off penalty free) if I want to take a day off and we can drive all over hell looking at whatever car I want to look at and drive whatever car I want to drive til we find one I want. But we could also just drive to the neighboring town and hop in a 2014 there and drive one around and see what I think without taking a whole day off.

First though, he wants me to print off or email home the budget so we can both take a look at it, ensure nothing is being missed and verify that the money is available every month before we commit to a car payment. He also wants to see what it'll do to our debt payoff.

Personally, I want a new(er) car and I'm ready for a new(er) car, but I'm torn between my goals. I want to pay off our debt, but it's sooooo slow going right not that it feels like it'll be FOREVER before we'll be in a place to get a new(er) car if we stick to the current plan, and I'm afraid the car won't outlive the debt - I'm afraid it'll start to develop problems and then we'll be in a place where we NEED a car, rather than WANT a car, and when you NEED a car, it's harder to hold the upper hand with negotiations.

So I don't know what to do... grrrrr. Sometimes I hate being an adult.

Ps: been wandering around the FlyLady site... I'm with y'all on the shoes...I wear flip flops all day...so that will be my "shoes!" And im not putting make up on every morning! i dont wear make up much any more at all! some powder & mascara is about as much as i do If we're going to town. i do brush my hair & put on a headband! So are y'all gonna do a control journal? I may do something waaaayyyy more simple, that's a little intense for me, what she does.

Ugh budgetary shit sucks... Going through our budget to make sure it's sound and it appears there will be a couple of months where things will be tight but other months it'll be easy peasy lemon squeezy.

We're going to test drive stuff tonight. He really wants me to get a Fusion with EcoBoost, but I found a 2013 Taurus SEL in our price range. If they'll give us the same amount for our stratus as the first dealership was willing to give, then we'll probably end up at that dealership this afternoon.

Just my two cents but I would look at a 2013. They are less expensive and even if you get a used one will not have high mileage. How exciting that he is working with you on this and trying to take some of the burden off of you ( and yes I get how irritating that could be too ).

FlyLady is a gal who has this fully customizable home management system. You don't have to buy anything to make it work, but if you'd prefer to, she has products you can buy. She teaches you how to use your time wisely, do a little bit at a time, and make great strides in home management. FlyLady.net

Got a new car today. 2014 Fusion. Looked at the 2013s, but they weren't any cheaper than the 2014s we were looking at. The one we got didn't have all the features I wanted, but it has the features I'm used to, plus a couple of niceties, so I'm happy with it. Brad posted a pic on Facebook and shared it with me, so if you're a friend on Facebook, you can see it.

We applied for a rebate to bring the price down (total of $2,250 in rebates, plus $3,000 for our trade, so we really took a chunk off the purchase price), but it takes up to 5 business days to "hit the system", so we have to wait til that's available before we can bring the car home. In the meantime, the car is at the dealership awaiting detailing and undercoating/rustproofing/teflon-coating/scotchbriting. Once all of our financing is situated and rebate received, etc, we'll be looking at a payment of under $300. Right were we wanted to be. I just wish we'd been able to bring it home now. I asked if I could write a check for the amount of the rebate and then get my check back when the rebate comes in, but he said insurance prevents him from being able do that. *shrug* Oh well. It'll only be a few days.

ANYHOW, we can still do our snowball b/c we got the payment where we needed it, and got a new car to boot. It's only got 266 miles on it. I can't wait til it's sitting in my driveway.